The present invention relates to a component supply apparatus and more particularly to a component supply apparatus for supplying various kinds of bulk components such as fine electronic components to a predetermined position by feeding them to a component feeding path, with the bulk components arranged in a row while they are agitated by air, for example, and then mounting them on an electronic circuit board by a component mounting apparatus.
There is a demand for a high speed supply of a large number of electronic components when the components are mounted on an electronic circuit board.
In order to comply with the demand, a method of feeding fine electronic components at a high speed by taping them is known. That is, electronic components are accommodated in accommodating portions formed on one side (surface) of an accommodating tape, with the electronic components arranged in the longitudinal direction thereof at regular intervals. A covering tape is bonded to the accommodating tape to prevent the components from being dropped from the accommodating portions.
Referring to FIG. 7, an example of a conventional component supply apparatus (B) is described below. The component supply apparatus (B) is used to automatically supply electronic components 205 accommodated in the accommodating tape to a mounting apparatus (A), positioned alongside of component supply apparatus (B), for mounting them on a printed circuit board 101, upon receipt thereof.
A plurality of the component supply apparatuses (B) corresponding to the number of kinds of the electronic components 205 required by the mounting apparatus (A) are installed on a component supply table 102 positioned alongside of the mounting apparatus (A). The component supply apparatus (B) holding the electronic components 205 required currently by the mounting apparatus (A) is selectively moved to a component supply position opposed to the mounting apparatus (A). Each of the electronic components 205 supplied to the component supply position by the component supply apparatus (B) is sucked by a sucking nozzle 104 provided on a component mounting head 103 of the mounting apparatus (A) and mounted on the printed circuit board 101 at a predetermined position thereof. The printed circuit board 101 is placed on an XY-table 106 movable in an X-direction and a Y-direction perpendicular to each other. The electronic component 205 sucked by the sucking nozzle 104 is transported to a mounting position to mount it on the printed circuit board 101 at the predetermined position thereof while the position of the XY-table 106 is being controlled in the XY-directions.
In the component supply apparatus (B), taped components 201 wound around a reel 105 supported by a supporting shaft 211 are pulled out therefrom along the upper surface of a component supply guide 202 and moved between the upper surface of the component supply guide 202 and pressing cover 203 covering the leading end of the component supply guide 202 toward a component supply hole formed on a pressing cover 203. While the taped components 201 are being moved, a covering tape 201b is separated from the accommodating tape 201a accommodating the electronic components 205 and then wound around a winding barrel of a reel 206. As a result, the accommodating tape 201a having the component accommodating portion uncovered as a result of the separation of the covering tape 201b is transported to the component supply hole. In this manner, the electronic components 205 are picked up sequentially by the sucking nozzles 104 through the component supply hole.
The above-described method of supplying the electronic components 205 requires: preparatory work for covering bulk components with the covering tape 201b after accommodating each of the bulk components in each component accommodating portion of the accommodating tape 201a; a mechanism for separating the covering tape 201b from the accommodating tape 201a and winding the covering tape 201b around the winding barrel of the reel 206; and work in removing the covering tape 201b from the winding barrel and disposing of it. The component supply apparatus requiring these works and the mechanism is complicated in its construction and inconvenient to use. In addition to the covering tape 201b, the accommodating tape 201ais frequently disposed after use. Thus, the component supply apparatus does not save resources.
In order to solve this disadvantage, the present applicants proposed a component supply apparatus (C) which is described below with reference to FIG. 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-218679). In this component supply apparatus, bulk components 205 are fed from a bulk component container 1 accommodating them separately to an agitating chamber 2. While agitating the bulk components 205 by air 3, the bulk components 205 are fed out to a component feeding path 4 formed according to the size of the bulk component 205, with the bulk components 205 arranged in a row. Then, each of the bulk components 205 is transported to a predetermined component supply position at which the bulk component is picked up by a sucking nozzle 104 shown in FIG. 7. The component supply apparatus (C) can be replaced with the above component supply apparatus (B).
The present applicant also proposed a component supply apparatus (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-218679), as shown in FIG. 8, adopting the above-described shooting method wherein the bulk components 205 are supplied through the chute-like component feeding path 4. The apparatus has a plurality of recesses 302 formed along the periphery of a turn table 301. The recesses 302 receive the bulk components 205 fed from the component feeding path 4 by the shooting method. The bulk components 205 are picked up by the sucking nozzles 104 after the bulk components 205 are turned by 90.degree. by the rotation of the turn table 301. In this manner, the bulk components 205 can be turned easily.
The above-described turn method makes the construction of the feeding path for feeding the bulk components 205 complicated. That is, this method requires a connecting path between a fixing section and a movable section. Further, there is a possibility that the bulk components 205 catch on the connecting path between the component feeding path 4 and the turn table 301, and thus the apparatus may be damaged.